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Monthly Archives: April 2009

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Elise here. A quick update on us: We came home from the hospital yesterday. It was soooo nice to sleep in our own bed again last night, and yes, we did actually get some sleep. The night started out rough, but after a blow-out diaper, Alethea settled down and actually did pretty well sleeping in her own room.

Now for the main subject of this post – I wanted to let everyone know a little more about why we picked the name Alethea Margaret.

Alethea – pronounced ah-LAY-thee-ah
Many of you know that Peter and I each had a name picked out and decided to wait until B was born to pick which of the names we were going to use. When it came time to decide I think Peter felt sorry for me after 3&1/2 hours of pushing a 10 lb baby out and we didn’t even have to argue over whose name we were going to use.

Alethea is the Greek word for “truth”. I learned it when I was studying Greek in high-school and ever since then have thought that it would make the prettiest name for a girl. In a culture where image is everything and what’s inside a person so often doesn’t count, I pray Alethea will always be willing to stand up for the truth.

Margaret –
Margaret is Peter’s grandmother’s name. She passed away on April 11th and we were disappointed that she was not able to meet her first great-grandchild but we wanted to honor her memory and so Alethea’s middle name is Margaret.

UPDATE: 11:57 PM – Major progress! They were able to unstick the stuck cervix and break Elise’s water. She dilated to 4cm almost instantly.

ORIGINAL POST STARTS HERE: Just wanted to give everyone an update on how Elise and the baby are doing. The quick version: we are back at the hospital and in labor after a 3-hour break at home following a failed induction on Friday and Saturday. Elise is resting comfortably and is on Pitocin to speed up her labor. The baby is doing great, aside from her stubborn refusal to be born.

We’re on our way out the door to go to the hospital. They’ll begin the inducement tonight, but we don’t expect to meet our little girl until tomorrow sometime. We hope to post from the hospital so stick around for more updates! Your prayers are appreciated!

So Peter and I went to Pad Thai in Saint Paul this evening to get some spicy food for dinner. As usual the food was excellent and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

After dinner we went for a walk down Summit Avenue to admire the houses. As we passed one house we saw this in the window:

I laughed outloud. Right there in the front window of a classy house on Summit Avenue was the leg lamp made infamous in the film “A Christmas Story”. I pointed it out to Peter, but can you believe, he didn’t know what I was talking about? I said, “you know, Ralphy and the Red Ryder BB Gun and ‘You’ll shoot your eye out!’?” And Peter said, “huh?”

Now I know Peter isn’t sentimental and he avoids holiday themed movies, but seriously? He’s never seen one of the most classic Christmas movies of all time! I thought every child of the 80s had seen “A Christmas Story”. I think I’ll have to remedy his cultural education at some point.

Had a check-up yesterday with another non-stress test. The baby is still reacting well, which is the good news. The bad news is that I don’t seem to be progressing toward labor. We now have an inducement plan. I will be going into the hospital this Friday night to being Cervidil and then they will start Pitocin on Saturday morning, so it appears that the baby will arrive sometime on the 25th. Unless of course the baby decides suddenly to cooperate and come sooner… but time is running out.

I’m still not thrilled with the idea of inducing, but it is comforting to know the end is in sight.

I had my weekly check-up yesterday. They said not much has changed and it doesn’t appear that I will go into labor anytime soon. Frustrating, but they’ve said it so many times I’m starting to get used to it. At least I didn’t cry like last week.

They also did a “non-stress test” to see how the baby was doing. According to the test she’s perfectly comfortable in there. My thought is that she is perhaps a little too comfortable… but I’m glad she’s not in distress. It was fun to be able to listen to her heartbeat for a while.

My next appointment is on Monday where they will do another non-stress test and see if I’ve moved any closer to going into labor. If all else fails, they will be inducing at the end of the week, but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.